Question

In a minimum of 100 words; Describe the history of industrial/organizational psychology. There are various influences on the field of industrial/organizational psychology. Who do you think was most influential and why?

Answer 1

Frederick W. Taylor started hi experiments which later contributed to his "scientific management" philosophy, he as a very influential pioneer in this field. Then Walter Scott was the another influential person, he published two books on psychological aspects in business. He was the first person to apply psychological principles such as motivation in the workplace. Hugo Munstburg, was the most influential person in this field, and he is also known the father of industrial psychology. He conducted experiments and applied it to real life settings, he also published "Psychology and Industrial Efficiency". Robert Yerkes, then subsequently performed research on soldiers during the first world war. He conducted behavioural evaluations on these soldiers and decides what role they would work in. The Hawthorne studies in 1924 which were conducted on the workers efficiency was a landmark study in this field. In the 1950, Douglas McGregor published his theory of relations between employees and organisation. Later, in the 60's David McClelland came up with achievement theory and Frederick Herzberg came up with two factor theory.